Hugh Jackson has been talking up the planned sequel to 2009’s X-Men Origins: Wolverine during his publicity tour for Real Steel. You may recall that Darren Aronofsky was originally at the helm for the continuing saga of the Adamantium-coated one with a script which was set in Japan for the majority of the action.

Journeyman director James Mangold is now calling the shots (working from that original script, thankfully) and Jackman has hinted that the two have discussed a plan to cater for an older crowd, alongside a younger demographic of fans.

“James Mangold and I talked about [an R-rated version] and we’re like ‘Look, let’s not put it off the table.’ There’s even talk about us doing two versions, as in finding a way to do both while you shoot it, which could be really cool. But you need to have a really good reason to exclude those fans.”

This is certainly an interesting idea in trying to appease both camps, but its early stages yet, and this could be Jackman (after the abject failure that was ‘Origins’) playing the hype game, and attempting to create some buzz. It’s hard to imagine trying to shoot two version simultaneously, and although Jackman may be hinting more at the violent content here, tonally, you’d think if they were going that way, the whole script would need to be modified slightly too.

Maybe the two need to concentrate solely on making the best film they can, and forget about driving up the claw-slashing carnage. You only need to refer back to Wolverine’s tremendous mansion battle in X-Men 2 to know that his animal side can be released just as effectively in a PG version.

Via Collider

The writing duo behind last year’s surprise comic hit Zombieland, Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese, are tackling another similarly quirky project.

Deadline is reporting that Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese will write the script for a feature which Disney has purchased – an adaptation of a graphic novel called Cowboy Ninja Viking.

The intriguingly monikered one is the creation of one Dr. Sebastian Ghislain, a psychotherapist who recruits Multiple Personality Disorder patients to produce a unit of counter-intelligence agents called Triplets. When a number of these trained assassins get out of control, the deadliest of them all, Cowboy Ninja Viking, is called in to track down and destroy his own kind.

Wernick & Rheese are currently in high demand, having recently finished the script for X-Men spin-off character Deadpool – as played by Ryan Reynolds in X-Men Origins: Wolverine.

Let us begin with a spoiler warning. Considering I had never heard of Deadpool until X-Men Origins: Wolverine (don’t judge, I was clearly busy during the preceding decades), I am not the best judge of what comprises sensitive information and what does not.

While there will obviously be cameos from characters inextricably linked with the anti-hero – Blind Al, Patch and Vanessa Carlysle are all scheduled to appear – there are a few (maybe) surprises as well.

The news from New York Comic-Con is that Weapon-X characters Wyre, Ajax, Sluggo and Garrison Kane will appear in the promised Deadpool movie.

The bona-fide shock, however, comes with the news that an X-Man is also scheduled to appear. The character will be established in the Marvel movie universe, with two appearances to date. Any guesses?

Sources have confirmed to Bleeding Cool that Piotr Rasputin (aka. Colossus) has been written into the screenplay – and it won’t just be for a fleeting cameo either.

Nope. He is in more than one scene and has got some stuff to do.

While it is not yet known whether Daniel Cudmore – who played Colossus in X-Men 2 and X – Men: The Last Stand – will reprise the role for the Deadpool movie, it is difficult to imaging that the Twilight actor has not been approached even informally.

It has further been suggested that the version of Deadpool’s alter-ego Wade Wilson (Ryan Reynolds) butchered in Wolverine will also feature in the character’s first solo adventure. With Deadpool famous for his liberal attitude towards the fourth wall, it will be interesting to see how the subject is broached.

The studio behind Tales From the Gangster Squad (a much buzzed-about script based on the tales of real-life police Sgt. John O’ Mara’s attempts to bring down gangster Mickey Cohen in 1940s L.A), is currently on the hunt to find a director to helm their flick.

While Ben Affleck (riding high on the success of his latest directorial effort The Town) was Warner Bros favourite to take this on, he has now passed on it and Darren Aronofsky has been offered the gig. This too may prove problematic, due to the fact that Fox has entered into negotiations with the director to take on the sequel to last year’s X-Men Origins: Wolverine.

Now Latino Review has acquired a list of other potential candidates up for the film. On there is Paul Greengrass, Francis Lawrence, Martin Campbell, Green Lantern scribe Greg Berlanti and Crazy Heart’s Scott Cooper.

Immediately it’s Greengrass who stands out here, and surely I’m not alone in thinking his style of shooting could make for an interesting-looking period piece. Think LA Confidential by way of the Bourne films.

We’ll keep you update when a director is finally announced.

In the second of a series of three articles, I will be showcasing the stars that I believe are set to become the next icons of Hollywood – The future Scorsese, Will Smith and so on.

We have already covered my choice of director in the previous article,  and we now move on to the faces in front of the camera. More specifically, we move on to the face that every male actor is clamouring to be – the next generation of leading man.

The ideal candidate should be physically impressive; the kind of impossibly handsome man sporting the squarest of square jaws, along with a great sense of humour and enough acting credibility to make him more than a pretty boy. Most importantly, he needs charisma. Women need to want him, and men need to want to go to the pub with him. Step forward then… Justin Bieber.

I’m joking of course, it’s Ryan Reynolds.

Reynolds is primarily known for his comedy work; nearly a decade on, people still refer to him as Van Wilder. His ever-present brand of sardonic wit in these films may come across as grating, and even annoying at times, but in recent years he has been able to tone down and refine his comedy. Consequently, he has been finding real success in romantic comedies like Definitely Maybe and The Proposal.

This is no accident; a combination of his pretty-boy exterior and natural comic timing make him the ideal romantic lead. Otherwise, his turns in action films have been brief, but impressive. He was one of the few redeeming features of Blade: Trinity, Smokin’ Aces and X-Men Origins: Wolverine, ensuring standout performances that last even while the films themselves fade into obscurity.

However, it is the next few years will see him go nova in a slew of comic book films. Next year, he will be seen playing Green Lantern in a mega-budget blockbuster that should catapult him into franchise territory, invigorating his career in the same vein as Robert Downey Jr, post- Iron Man. Reynolds’ love of the comic book film does not just stop at a single super-hero; as Deadpool in the awful Wolverine film, Reynolds’ sparse moments onscreen were filled with an innovative sense of humour and charm that the rest of the film lacked.

He has confirmed his involvement in a spin-off, reprising his role as the wisecracking, schizophrenic super-assassin. If it can stick to a hard 18/R rating, this could well become a breakout role for him akin to Brad Pitt in Fight Club. He is also set to shoot R.I.P.D in the autumn, an obscure graphic novel adaptation about a duo of deceased policemen patrolling the underworld.

Reynolds has proven his worth as both a romantic lead and an action star. Even The Amityville Horror remake has shown that he can do deadpan, if required. His upcoming super-hero flicks are set to thrust him into the public eye, and if his charisma is able to carry multiple franchises he will have truly fulfilled his potential, embracing his role as the next leading man of Hollywood.

Next up, we’ll look at Hollywood’s Hottest Leading Lady.

After the character was fumbled in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, a Deadpool movie has promised to put things straight and give the superhero a big screen adventure worthy of his considerable popularity.

In an interview with the L. A. Times (via Superhero Hype) the star of Deadpool, and part time Green Lantern, Ryan Reynolds discussed how the film would differ from Wolverine – and other comic-book movies in general.

It goes in such a different direction than a superhero movie usually goes. It’s a nasty piece of work. It’s just based in so much emotional filth, completely. It’s like ‘Barfly‘ if it were a superhero movie.

It sort of treads into the world of an emotionally damaged person.  I always say that Deadpool is a guy in a highly militarized shame spiral…. It’s so different than the superhero movies to date, it departs so far from that.

Reynolds also admitted that they would unlikely spare the time to ease audiences in.

With Deadpool, it’s a lot like going to prison for the first day. You got to walk up and hit the biggest guy you see to establish a bit of cred. With Deadpool, early on you have to establish that moral flexibility. There’s a gamble to it — you’re going to lose a few people right at the beginning but you take the gamble and know that eventually you’re going to win them back. You won’t lose the hard-core fans of the character, they already know who he is.

We have to play to a broader audience than that. As an actor you have to be willing to do something like … back in Vancouver we used to call it a [nasty] burger. ’You gotta eat the [nasty] burger to get to the cookies.’ And yes, I want to write a cookbook about that…

Reynolds will next be seen – sans lycra – in Buried, a claustrophobic thriller which surfaces later this month in a cinema near you. As for the rest of this interview, you can continue reading here.

After drawing out the casting process to the speed of your average tectonic plate, Bryan Singer has finally opened up about X-Men: First Class. After Alice Eve was mistakenly touted as Emma Frost and Aaron Johnson was incorrectly linked to the role of Scott Summers, coherent confirmation was required from someone in the know.

In a conversation with Aint It Cool News‘ Harry Knowles, Singer discussed the story, casting choices and setting in depth. Most importantly, however, the producer made it clear that the film will not follow the comic-of-the-same-name’s continuity, which already goes some way to explaining the casting inconsistencies debated across the interweb to date.

In terms of story, the film will follow the early relationship between Charles Xavier and Erik Lensherr, the former with hair and the ability to walk. With filming commencing at Oxford University, the 1960s setting’s civil rights movement will foreshadow the mutant registration act touched upon in the existing films. More tantalisingly, Singer revealed that the audience will finally get to see the classic X-Men costumes as yet ignored by the film series.

When pressed on casting news, Singer revealed that Cyclops and Jean Grey will not appear in the movie. While he confirmed that Lucas Till will be appearing as Havoc, Cyclops himself will be sitting this one out despite his introduction in X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Similarly, January Jones was confirmed as Emma Frost and Kevin Bacon’s role announced as Sebastian Shaw, confirming the involvement of The Hellfire Club.

First Class will be the most international of the X-films according to Singer, stepping away from the rampant Americanization of characters in the series to date, which saw Colossus and Pyro lose a large part of their identity. With locations in the U.S. and U.K. confirmed, there will also be involvement from the Soviet Union as well.

While the involvement of Frost and the lack of Scott Summers, who both appeared in Wolverine, throw up numerous continuity issues, there is less discrepancy between First Class and the original trilogy. That said, the inclusion of Nicholas Hoult’s Beast cannot be remedied by discounting the canonical standing of Wolverine. It is, however, in keeping with Singer’s admission that First Class the movie will not follow First Class the comics verbatim. Furthermore, it has been known for some time that Matthew Vaughn was planning a quasi-reboot/prequel of the X-Men franchise, inconsistencies were unavoidable.

Due for U.K. release in June, 2011, X-Men: First Class will go before camera’s at the end of this month.

According to Vulture, the sequel to 2009′s X-Men Origins: Wolverine is set to be directed by one of two people.

Their sources report that Twilight: Eclipse’s David Slade and Robert Schwentke (The Time-Traveler’s Wife) are currently vying for Fox’s Wolverine 2, with an insider insisting “It’s going to be Slade.”

While the final decision will invariably be made by Hugh Jackman after he has met with both parties next week, Slade is an alluring choice. Eclipse was by far the best Twilight film to date; at times both thrilling and undeniably funny. His approach also went some way to developing the three leads, and after the cameo-heavy X-Men Origins, Wolverine the sequel could do with increased focus on character.

The sequel, which will be set in Japan as suggested by the previous movie’s end of credits scene, will follow Marvel comic’s continuity with the introduction of a new love interest for Jackman’s Wolverine. The plot, which was last drafted by Christopher McQuarrie (X-Men) in January, will see our titular hero do battle with the young woman’s father and samurai sw0rd-wielding brothers.

Despite the publicity Captain America and Thor are receiving this very fine Comic-Con, it is surprising that more stage-time hasn’t been afforded another of Marvel’s superheroes: Wolverine.

After months of apparent radio silence following the announcement that  Christopher McQuarrie had been hired to script the sequel, news has finally broken that 20th Century Fox have narrowed their choice of directer down to two possibilities.

The Playlist report that directors Matt Reeves (Cloverfield) and Tony Scott (Man on Fire) have been selected by Fox, at the expense of other potential helmers such as Kathryn Bigelow (The Hurt Locker) and Wanted’s Timur Bekmambetov.

With the highly enjoyable Cloverfield under his belt, and evidence that he may in fact be doing a fine job with the Let The Right One In remake Let Me In,  Reeves may be the best bet following the franchise’s lacklustre first outing. With Scott due to start filming Potsdamer Platz in the new year, approximately the same time Wolverine 2 is scheduled to go before the camera, this dose of wishful thinking may even become a reality.

Reported by Steven Neish

Currently donning the tights for the Green Lantern movie, which is attracting a very interesting cast including Mark Strong and Peter Sarsgaard, Ryan Reynolds has another comic book turn coming up, and with Zombieland writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick officially on scripting duties, Deadpool has the talent to make it a fun film.

MTV recently caught up with Reynolds at Sundance where his film Buried garnered some serious praise and a Lionsgate distribution deal into the bargain, and he talked a little on his collaboration with the writing team.

I talk to them every single day…It’s actually a really wonderful creative trifecta — we’re having a very good time.”"Tonally, they got it…They just [understood 'Deadpool'] right off the bat. They’re fans of the character and they were so excited. We couldn’t have done any better [than Reese and Wernick].

There’s a nice little video over at MTV and Reynolds’ own affinity for his character may mean his creative input will greatly affect the writing process, and while no other details on the production side have been confirmed there is hope that the X-Men spin off fares better critically than Wolverine, though the box office takings surprised a lot of people.

Given the analogous fortunes of Bryan Singer and the X Men franchise it may come as no surprise to learn that Singer has just signed a deal to get involved with X Men: First Class Origins.

Speaking on the blue carpet of the L.A. premiere of James Cameron’s Avatar Singer told MySpace (via Dark Horizons) that after his rendition of Jack the Giant Killer he will start work on the next X Men film, which is said to focus on early years of our favourite X men and women at Charles Xavier’s academy.

Valkyrie was a great suspense film but it followed the box office disappointment of  Superman Returns, and Singer needs a decent return on his new venture. He has always impressed with solid film making as long as the script is tight enough to take advantage of his strengths as a director. And X2 remains a high point of the last decade’s obsession with comic book movies so a Singer helmed X Men film looks just the ticket.

As long as they don’t digitally rejuvenate Patrick Stewart as they did at the end of X Men Origins: Wolverine…

The 33 year old star of The Proposal sat down for an interview today with MTV to discuss the past year of his life, including the two big budget superhero movies he has signed on to star in: The Green Lantern and X-Men Origins: Wolverine spin-off Deadpool.

Speaking about The Green Lantern, which is the first of the two films to go into production, Reynolds said:

“I’ve known about “Green Lantern” my whole life, but I’ve never really followed it before. I fell in love with the character when I met with [director] Martin Campbell. When I sat down with him, I really got what it is that this guy is all about. When you have a guy like Martin Campbell, part of his charm is that he has ba–s of titanium, and the other part is that he’s slightly crazy, and you have to be to take on something with the scope of “Green Lantern.” He’s less of the director and more of a general. He just really knows strategies, he knows the intricacies, and his attention to detail! It’s infectious. I sat down with him, and I could not even believe what he was saying. When I went to the meeting, I was entirely cynical. I thought, “What the hell, I’ll see what they have to say,” and I left the room with a completely different perspective.”

When asked about the highlight of his big year, Ryan responded:

“I think, seeing the prototypes for the Green Lantern costumes was a huge moment. It was a moment when I was like, “This is happening, and it’s happening in the right way.” That’s a pretty cool, definitive moment for me.”

And regarding the proposed Deadpool spin-off:

“I’ve been in so many meetings lately about “Deadpool” and meeting all these writers. Everyone is always looking for that one line, “What is that character?” and for me it’s kind of like, “There’s a guy, and he’s in a highly militarized comedic fame spiral.” That’s not an easy thing to write — an entire screenplay, let alone a franchise.”

I’ve been somewhat of a Ryan Reynolds fan since watching him on TV over a decade ago in Two Guys and a Girl, and it was inevitable that his onscreen charisma would lead him to eventually become a star in cult comedies and Hollywood blockbusters. However, even as a fan who has seen his best comedic and dramatic performances and knows what he is capable of, I don’t like the idea of him being in two separate comic book films as the lead character, especially when those film will be released within a fairly short time-span of one another.

In my opinion, Reynolds playing The Green Lantern and Deadpool will be the equivalent of seeing Hugh Jackman playing Superman or Christian Bale playing Captain America. It just doesn’t work, regardless of whether the characters wear masks or not. To make matters even stranger, Reynolds has previously played Hannibal King in Blade: Trinity and has been the front-runner (no pun intended) to play the lead role in the big screen adaptation of The Flash, which Reynolds himself confirmed.

Many believe that the reason Reynolds has signed on to play two major comic book characters is simply studio rivalry. The rumor is that executives at Warner Bros. (DC’s parent company) wanted to cast him as The Green Lantern in order to tamper with 20th Century Fox’s Deadpool schedule. A strategic move from a studio perspective perhaps, but one that is sure to have fans up in arms when the films are released.

You can read the full interview with Ryan Reynolds over at MTV.